Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors R. J. Deeming and C. B. Taylor.

No declarations of interest or whipping arrangements were received.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Board held on 10th June 2010 were submitted. 

RESOLVED that the minutes be approved as a correct record.

The Board considered a topic proposal by Councillor C. Scurrell on the future of Bromsgrove Urban and Rural Transport (BURT).  Members discussed the financial implications of providing this service, particularly in the difficult financial context, whether the Council had a statutory duty to provide this facility and the provision of public transport generally in the district.  The Executive Director, Finance and Resources advised Members that a budget bid would have been put forward for the service for consideration in the Medium Term Financial Plan and that as the service had not yet been running for a year it may be more appropriate to consider the matter when the next budget bid was submitted.

The following questions were raised:

• What was the financial investment made to set up the service?
• What are the current running costs (i.e. cost of the driver and maintenance of the vehicle) and any revenue received?
• Can a summary of the journeys made be provided? (i.e. does the service concentrate on Bromsgrove Town Centre or does it pick up residents in Hagley, Wythall, Rubery and Alvechurch for example.)
• What is the take up of the service?
• Redditch Borough Council provided a similar service with a larger number of vehicles.  Has consideration been given to combining the two services?

After further discussion it was

RESOLVED that further information and responses to the questions raised by the Board be provided by the Head of Community Services, at the Scrutiny Board meeting to be held on 28th September 2010. 

The Board considered a report on the Scrutiny Board Work Programme 2010/11.

Members discussed the Quarterly Recommendation Tracker which would be brought to the meeting of the Scrutiny Board on 28th September 2010.  Officers confirmed that many of the Cabinet decisions/Scrutiny recommendations on the Tracker referred to the Refuse and Recycling (VFM) Task Group, which was due to be reviewed in July 2010.  A detailed response would be requested from the Head of Environmental Services for the next meeting.

The Board discussed the implementation of the Street Trading Consent Policy.  Members also raised individual issues they had referred to the Licensing Team in respect of this policy, which had not been addressed. The Executive Director, Finance and Resources asked for details of these to be emailed to Officers, in order to investigate the issues further.

Members also made the following points:

• The Place Survey continues to be a high priority topic for consideration but in light of the recent changes may have to be adapted.
• Shared Services – Members felt that although this was an important issue, it was still at the early stages of implementation.  The Executive Director, Finance and Resources suggested that a good starting point for review would be when the senior management team had been in post for 12 months.  Members agreed that this item would be considered in early 2011.
• The Corporate Safeguarding Policy (Children and Vulnerable Adults) should remain a high priority and also be considered in more detail later in the year, or early 2011.

The Board also considered the medium priority items and agreed that these should be held in “reserve” for the time being and looked at in more detail if there was sufficient time when the high priority topics had been considered.

RESOLVED:

(a)          that the Overview and Scrutiny work planning process for 2010/11 be noted; and

(b)          that the Scrutiny Board Work Programme for 2010/11 (as set out in     Appendix 1) is agreed.